France Spring 2014 No.6

Located in Provence in the southeast of France, “Spring of
Vaucluse” (Fontaine de Vaucluse) is the source of the River
Sorgue (La Sorgue), as well as the largest spring in France. After
the mountain snow melts, its average flow can reach 110
m3 per second.
According to legend, there once lived a monster called Coulobre
in the River Sorgue. This extremely hideous female
dragon was subdued by the bishop Saint Véran in the Middle
Ages. There is a sculpture in the town of Fontaine-de-Vaucluse
(Commune de Fontaine de Vaucluse) serving as evidence. Today’s
River Sorgue is quite docile, with clear greenish water,
whose temperature is about 13 degrees year-round and warm
in winter and cool in summer.
In France and some other European countries, there exists
a hotel-restaurant network called Logis. At a Logis hotel, in
addition to its distinctive accommodations, there would also
be dedicated chefs preparing culinary specialties for the hotel
guests. Situated by the River Sorgue in the town of Fontaine-de-Vaucluse,
Park Hotel (Logis Hôtel Restaurant du
Parc) is one of the ten Logis hotels in the department of Vaucluse
specializing in truffle cuisine. Here, besides interacting
with the chefs in the kitchen and learning how to prepare the
local culinary specialties, you can also enjoy an extraordinary
dining environment. In the hotel’s courtyard, you can admire
the mist-shrouded mountainous landscape in front of you and
listen to the gurgling river flowing by your dining table. Even
if you dine inside the hotel, the river would also be in sight. If
you are fortunate enough, you may also see through the windows
one or two canoes struggling against the current to go
upstream. Perhaps for the sake of being named “Park Hotel”,
during the day, several cocks from the neighboring households
would come over to take a stroll; and in the evenings, there
would be ducks emerging from the water.
Provence is the world’s most important black truffle producing
area, accounting for 80% of France’s production. The truffle
harvest season spans from November to March of the next
year. Speaking with the heart-warming local accent, head chef
Daniel demonstrated to us in the kitchen how to preserve truffles:
the most ancient method is the disinfection preservation
technique. It requires one to place truffles, which have been
scrubbed clean in advance, in sealed jars filled with Bordeaux
red wine or cognac. Of course, the truffles can also be soaked
in water. One advantage of this approach is that the wine or
water would absorb the truffles’ flavor, so it can be used as
seasoning in preparing dishes. You can also wrap truffles in
a sheet of aluminum foil and place them in a plastic box for
www.provenceguide.co.uk
quick refrigeration. Prior to consumption, you simply take the
truffles out from the fridge. However, you must consume all
truffles preserved in this method at once. Another way is to
place the truffles at the bottom of a bottle, put a few raw eggs
on top and then seal the bottle. After four or five days, the
eggs would have become saturated with the smell of truffles,
and they would perfect for making soft scrambled eggs with
truffles. If not being preserved in sealed bottles, the truffles
must be consumed within two or three days after being unearthed.
Chef Daniel opened a box of fresh truffles and asked us to
inhale their aroma first. We all took several deep breathes. The
aroma filled the entire kitchen. He then put some butter in
a small pan. After the butter melted, he beat and put several
whole eggs in the pan. He kept the pan’s temperature at a relatively
low level and constantly scrambled the eggs. He then
removed the pan from the oven, put it back, and then remove
it again, until the eggs became cooked. He then shaped the
eggs with a few drops of fresh cream. To finish, he removed
the pan from the oven and stirred ground or sliced truffles
into the eggs. This is the simplest way to savor the freshness of
truffles. In southern France, this is called “eggs with truffles”
(Brouillade aux truffes).
When the dishes were served onto the table in succession,
including cream of Jerusalem artichoke soup with truffle,
(velouté de topinambour à la truffe), roasted veal tenderloin
with mashed potatoes in truffles and seamed white carrots
(filet de veau rôti accompagné de puré de pomme de terre à la
truffe et aux carottes blanche à l’étuver) and champagne and
truffle ice cream (sorbet à la truffe et au champagne), Chef
Daniel quipped, “These are the achievements of today’s culinary
lesson, and they are prepared by our combined efforts. If
they are not tasty, I will take the responsibility.”
Three days after enjoying an all truffle-dish banquet, we all
felt that we could still smell the flavor of truffles.
In the summer, tourists would come here from the ancient
city of Avignon to escape the heat, and they would enjoy meals
near the cool and refreshing River Sorgue. In the nearby town
of l’Isle-sur-la-sorgue, there is a well-known antique furniture
market, which is the second largest in France, after the market
of Saint-Ouen in Paris. It is a must-visit for tourists.
Of course, there is another thing you must do here: savoring
the famous wines produced by the “Pope’s New Castle” winery
(Châteauneuf du Pape), and seeing with your own eyes the
winery’s soil and the 13 grape varieties that are used in producing
the famous wines.
© Lionel Moulet
Logis Hôtel Restaurant du Parc
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